A Little Music Goes A Long way
by KesGirl
Summary: Up and coming singer Santana gets a new opening act, but nothing is ever that simple. AU One-shot.


**AU:** So this is completely different to anything I've ever written before, especially the way it's written, but it's just the way it came out. I probably won't write anymore stories this way, as it's not really my thing, but heyho, let's see how this goes. It may be a little hard to follow, but please stick with it and let me know what you think. As always, big, big, BIG thanks to the greatest friend and beta a girl could ask for ABlazingPhoenix - please go check out her stuff, you wont regret it!

Anywho, enough waffle, lets get on with the show! Hopefully it makes sense lol...

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Brittany and her girlfriend Alex are huge fans of Santana's (a local, halfway famous singer) and go to a small gig she is holding with a plan in mind. As Santana starts playing her new song, Alex and Brittany hop up to sit on the side of the very large stage in the average size room. Brittany gets her guitar out and at Alex's urging starts playing their own version of the song over the top of Santana's. Before Santana starts singing, Brittany's intricate finger work gets louder and Alex starts to sing. Santana stops completely, intrigued and goes over to them. Brittany being the quieter of the two, hides her face and slowly comes to a stop, whilst Alex, beams and sings as loud and proud as she can before stopping. Santana, impressed with the short performance, asks them both backstage after the show to talk properly. After they talk, Santana invites them to be an opening act for her while she tours, as well as asking Alex to sing a duet with her during the main event each night. During their travels, the couple get more noticed/popular and gain their own small fan base. Alex continues to be the louder, more attention seeking of the two, while Brittany continues to be quieter, taking each day as if it could stop any minute. Alex becomes the fan favourite between the two of them and she loves it. Brittany tries to keep her level headed, but Alex doesn't listen. Santana watches all this from afar, noticing Brittany becomes more and more reserved as Alex starts to belittle her girlfriend, going out to greet fans and parties on her own. Santana steps in and tries to talk to them both (Alex mainly), telling Brittany she basically needs to stand up for herself more and telling Alex that if she doesn't cut the attitude and behaviour, she won't just lose her spot in the show, she's also gonna lose Brittany. At first, it seems Alex is going to listen as she starts treating Brittany (a little) better and isn't in the limelight as much. Then one day, when they're getting ready in their dressing room before the show, Brittany learns that Alex doesn't actually care for her, she just used her talents to get them where they are. Alex proceeds to inform her that once tonight's show is over she's been invited elsewhere for a solo gig and that she's leaving her. Heartbroken, Brittany runs to another part of the building where she's thinks she's alone. Santana is told what's happened by staff who overheard the girls and goes to find them. First she finds Alex in her dressing room, getting ready and acting as though nothing's happened. After expressing her disappointment and how upset she us with Alex, Santana tells her she's not needed for tonight's show and asks her to leave. Next Santana goes looking for Brittany and finds her in an unused room, calmly holding herself together. Santana tells Brittany what's happened and that she's better off without. She also asks Brittany to perform alone during the opening act and after much encouragement (Brittany has never sung publicly), Brittany agrees. The act goes amazingly as it turns out, Brittany is like an undiscovered female Ed Sheeran. Brittany is also asked to perform the duet Alex would normally do with Santana and is much more agreeable knowing she won't be performing alone. Their performance beings the house down. After a few days of this, Santana begs her to do a guitar battle live on stage. It's a tie as the audience can't decide and they vote for each other. A few days after, they learn that Alex has been dropped already cos of her diva attitude. Santana explained that she called the record company, as the agent who signed Alex is a friend and after the friend learned what happened, he decided he didn't want someone like that on his team. A couple weeks after that and Brittany and Santana are practically inseparable. After a night out celebrating another great show, the girls head back to Brittany's hotel room. Once inside, Santana tells Brittany she's not stopping, she just wanted to be away from prying eyes for a minute. She then quickly kisses Brittany who is stunned. Santana confesses she likes Brittany as more than a friend, but understands things might still be a little raw so she doesn't want either of them rushing into anything. She then tells Brittany she'll be waiting, whenever she's ready. Before she can leave, Brittany kisses her back and Santana let's her for a minute before letting go and telling Brittany to think about it then come find her, then she leaves the room. Next day, Brittany has decided to ask Santana on a date. Before she can get there though, she's intercepted by Alex begging forgiveness. She seems genuine and as the only girl she's ever loved, Brittany knows there's still some underlying feelings as well as the resentment she feels. But she also knows she has feelings for Santana and is confused about what to do. She asks Alex to give her time to think and heads back to her room, forgoing asking Santana out for now. Unbeknownst to Brittany, Santana witnessed the whole exchange, as well as seeing a smug looking Alex after she left. Alex spots Santana and goes over to tell her she will get Brittany back and when she does, their 'friendship pow-wow' will be over. After rubbing salt in the wound some more (Alex is aware of Santana's feelings and has known for a while) Alex finally leaves. Santana knows Alex only wants Brittany back cos of the girl's new found fame and future celebrity status, but she also knows with Brittany's vulnerable state, she'll only succeed in pushing the other girl away if she tries to warn her, during which time Alex will swoop in as the hero knowing she's the only form of comfort Brittany's had before their breakup. With this knowledge in mind, Santana just hopes Brittany makes the right decision on her own. If not, maybe there's a way for Alex to be caught in the act. A couple of days pass with the show carrying on as normal and Brittany decides to talk to Santana. She explains the situation to her and how she knows Alex really hurt her, but she herself doesn't want to hurt anyone by turning either of them down. She also tells Santana that she does having feeling for her, but she can't just erase a year and a half with Alex. Santana doesn't know what to tell her and realises that Brittany obviously isn't ready to jump into anything else just yet, so she simply tells her the age old advice of 'follow your heart, just make sure it's what's best for you and don't think about anyone else'. Santana then goes leaving Brittany with her thoughts. Later, on the way to rehearsal, Alex is there again. Alex tries wearing her down, reminding her of all the good times they shared before the tour. She asks Brittany to give her another chance and to go on a date. Brittany starts wavering, but before she can answer, Santana comes over looking for her as rehearsal is starting. Before they leave, Alex tries again saying that she'll take her out for her birthday this weekend. Santana jumps in stating that Brittany's birthday is next month, which surprises Brittany as she never told Santana that, yet also disappoints her cos she can't believe after all their time together, Alex can remember either her birthday or what this weekend actually is. She asks Santana to give them a minute and that she'll meet her there. Reluctantly, Santana leaves, but says the same thing as when they kissed, 'I'll be waiting, whenever you're ready.' That seems to kick start Brittany's brain a bit. Santana thinks she's worth waiting for, but Alex is pushing for now. Growing some backbone, she tells Alex exactly that and says that if she really cared, she'd do as asked by giving her space and waiting for her. She then asks how she could forget her birthday after everything, but Alex brushes it off with, 'I'm sorry, but so what if I mixed it up by a month? No big deal.' That only annoys Brittany more, so she asks Alex to tell her exactly when her birthday is. This seems to stump Alex little and when she answers it's clearly a guess as well as being wrong. Brittany tells her as much before asking if Alex even remembers the actual significance of this weekend. When Alex guesses wrong yet again, Brittany walks away to the rehearsal in a slightly emotional state with Alex chasing after her. When are get a there all eyes turn to them as Brittany stands by Santana, who tells Alex to shut up before asking if Brittany is okay. Brittany then asks Santana when her birthday is and without pause, Santana answers correctly, bringing a small smile to Brittany's face. Before anything else is said, Santana, taking in Brittany's state asks if she's upset over Alex's mix up of this weekend, receiving a nod in return. Santana then asks if it's about her mother. Realisation strikes Alex's face as Brittany looks shocked that Santana knows. Seeing this, Santana confesses that she heard Brittany on the phone the week before saying that the coming weekend is the third anniversary of her mother's death. Alex tries to apologise, but Brittany simply asks her if she even remembers her mother's name. When Alex fails to answer Brittany tells her to go. After telling the crew and staff to also leave the first thing out of Santana's mouth is 'Susan'. Again, Brittany is stunned and confused, prompting Santana to further confess she'd snuck a peek at the other girl's file to find out her birthday (also explaining how she knew her birthday) so she could surprise Brittany on the day and during her snooping she saw it under the parentage section, so stored it away for future knowledge. She then explains that after hearing the one-sided phone call, she was waiting for Brittany to tell her about her mother when she was ready, but that she was planning a day trip on the day to take her mind off things, whether or not she had opened up. Brittany hasn't said a word and stays silent, prompting Santana to ask if she thinks it was creepy to search her file and rambles about whether she should've done things differently. This snaps Brittany out of her stupor and she grabs Santana, kissing her hard, effectively shutting her up. A few moments later, Brittany releases her and whispers, 'go on a date with me'. Santana responds by pulling her in for another kiss.


End file.
